A memo sent to network affiliates added the following rationale: "...by formally changing the show's title, we will be able to further capitalize on and form a stronger connection to the famous and highly successful Star Trek franchise."

When the series launched two years ago, its producers hoped to distance the show from the Star Trek name and draw a wider audience. In fact, however, the opposite has occurred. It's not just the title to blame, however; according to many fans, a closer adherence to Star Trek canon and continuity would be in order as well.

Speaking of audiences, the third season so far has yet to show improvement. The season three opener, "The Xindi," saw a 10% drop from the opening of last season. Last week's episode, entitled "Anomaly," did somewhat better, becoming the most-watched Enterprise since February.

Right now, the Star Trek producers can only dream about the kind of viewership numbers The Next Generation used to draw, but executive producer Rick Berman remains confident in the stories the show has lined up for this year. In an interview with TV Guide, he gave a few spoilers of things to come. "In an alternate future, the Xindi have reduced Earth to a cinder," Berman told the magazine. "It's one of these wonderful stories where something has to be corrected in the future to right things in the present."

That story idea &#Array; yet another save-the-human-race yarn &#Array; probably sounds as hackneyed and smarmy to you as it does to me. Other upcoming episodes, however, sound genuinely interesting; in one of them, the Enterprise crew encounters a ship full of Vulcans gone mad from the Delphic Expanse. In another, they find a planet of long-lost kidnapped humans who, after several centuries, have turned the tables on their alien captors. Dealing with the dangerous unknowns of outer space, and understanding the challenges posed to the human mind and spirit in such a future &#Array; that's Star Trek.